The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for indicating or measuring contact pressure distribution over a surface.
Contact pressure distribution measurements are now made by electronic or mechanical pressure transducers, but these have a number of drawbacks. For example, many of them are large and bulky, and even when they are miniaturized, it is still difficult to adapt them for use in a limited space because of their electrical and mechanical connections. In addition, the introduction of the transducers produces local stiffness changes in the contact surface which may affect the measurements. Further, the known electronic and mechanical pressure transducers generally do not permit simultaneous measurements of the pressure distribution over a complete large surface. Finally, such known systems are generally very costly to produce, and moreover they require a high level of technical personnel to operate and maintain them.